Opinion

America's First Bottle & Can Deposit Law Nears 40 (New Changes Coming)

In 1971, the Oregon Bottle Bill became law requiring all carbonated beverage containers be required to have a five-cent deposit, paid when the product is purchased at the retailer, and refunded by same. There are changes coming. Whose best suited to implement the changes? The State? The Beverage Industry? The private sector? Let's take a look...

Prior to the introduction of this law, beverage bottles and cans made up about 40% of the garbage strewn along Oregon roadways and country-side. Since its enactment these products account for only 6%, with over 90% being recycled. This is compared to states which do not have deposit laws where only about 28% of these type of containers are recycled. (Restrictions imposed by the bottle bill have probably raised the amount to more than the 6% mentioned.)

The Bottle Bill was the catalyst for making "recycling" a way of life in Oregon and an early "push" towards a greener world. Several generations following the enactment of the Oregon Bottle Bill have been raised with this recycling idea firmly planted in their every day life. In Oregon we don't think of it as a law, we think of it as the norm, and being the right thing to do, and, as a way to have a money-reserve by collecting these containers, either through purchase and/or just picking them up where we find them.

The creation of this Bottle Bill, to this very day, has never been supported by distributors, and especially retailers of the products bearing the 5-cent deposit. Their dislike for this law increased even more when Oregon added the requirement of all water containers to have a 5-cent deposit beginning January 1, 2009.

Retailers have increasingly been trying to find a way to rid themselves of the burden of being the responsible party to refund the 5-cent deposits. In place since 1971, retailers have had the job of refunding the 5-cent deposit back to the consumer who paid the deposit to the retailer when they purchased the products in the first place.

Distributors and retailers have put "making money" over the needs necessary to creating a greener world? Yes, and to the lesser, no. With the increase in population from a little above two million in 1970, to an estimated population (2010) nearing four million today, the burden of responsibility has nearly doubled.

In the early days of the law all the bottles and cans were hand-counted. Following the hand-count system came the can and bottle refund machines. They operate like a reverse-vending machine. You put the deposit container in and the machine makes the refund on a slip of paper you take to the retailer's checkout where it is redeemable for cash.

Now, that seems fairly simple, right? Wrong!

The only fast bulk machines exist only for aluminum cans.

If you're returning bottles, plastic and/or glass, the return machines can be a lengthy task because the bottles have to be inserted into the machines one at a time. Since most people save their returns till its worth a trip to return, meaning the average person does not return the containers till they have several hundred or more.

The machines, themselves, constantly have breakdown problems, fill-up too fast and have to be stopped to be emptied, thus making the one-bottle at a time process even longer. They are slow, at best, without breakdowns and having to be emptied. Several hundred or more deposit containers can result in spending two or more hours just to get the refund of the deposit paid.

The machines are built on technology from the 1980s, and not much has changed, including their computer operating system, which is Windows 98.

So, why has all this happened? The main reason I believe is this whole return-systems has been set up favoring the distributors and retailers of beverage products. These are the very people who have been opponents of the Oregon Bottle Bill.

The whole of recycling efforts for returning deposit-containers have been hobbled by the beverage industry itself. Nothing has been done to make this effort consumer-friendly. I think the beverage industry and its retailers look upon consumers as hogs, and the industry views itself as being the farmer who slops the hogs. UNACCEPTABLE!!

We are not hogs, but people who want to be part of the recycling effort who want to make things greener. Our hope for green is not money. People want a better world, one with green-technology and planet protection in full force.

And, the beverage industry? The only green they see is their money over what's actually right! In Oregon people keep asking "why is it all containers do not have a deposit?" Who stops the Oregon Bottle Bill from covering all containers? The answer is the beverage industry itself. It's those lobbyists who influence individual representatives and agencies of our state government.

In Oregon the administrators of the Oregon Bottle Bill are the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. They are the state agency which oversees alcohol enforcement and sales in Oregon. Alcohol sales occur in state authorized stores only. There's that word, SALES.

Therefore, its no surprise that the very agency that oversees the bottle bill is linked more to sales than to consumer needs. Do you see any conflict of interest here?

The whole deposit-return process is built around the needs of the beverage industry over that of what is right -- the needs of the consumer. There is nothing built around going green, except the beverage industry's monetary growth.

Always keep in mind some of the infamous products brought to us by the beverage industry over the years, pull-tab cans, no deposit-no return bottles, and plastic containers (which are made from oil).

They have even managed to cut consumers out of their refunds by having the Oregon Bottle Bill impose a maximum 144 container limit on the number of deposit-containers returned in one day. They may have imposed such, but, some retailers do not enforce this limit because it causes more problems by alienating the consumer. Hey! They'll sell us more than 144 beverages a day!

And, now the latest being shoved down consumers throats is their new "pilot" redemption center idea.

The redemption center idea is a great idea, but it must serve the needs of the community by keeping the profits and hiring of employees in the community it serves and be absolutely consumer friendly without imposing any limitations on such. These pilot redemption centers, of which there are currently two (Wood Village and Oregon City) offer NONE of these concepts. In fact they're tightening the noose even tighter on the consumer. Keep in mind how fast the consumer is charged the deposit at the checkout. It happens in the blink of an eye! We pay the deposit in cash immediately upon purchase.

So, we should get our money back when returning the containers for refund. Well, its not going to happen within this new beverage industry influenced redemption center. In a nutshell here how it will work:

1. No more than 200 containers returned per day per person

2. Deposit refund payments will be made upon a card given the consumer and the money refunded within 24 hours.

3. The consumer will then have to go to an ATM to get their money

Although not mentioned, don't ATMs charge a fee to use them?

This whole process is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE! People bring their containers, usually several hundred, or more, because they need their money immediately. They paid the deposit in cash and they rightfully deserve their money back in cash, not on some plastic card, and be delayed hours.

How can we as consumers be treated rightly? The answer is privately operated redemption centers by a non-profit corporation not connected to the beverage industry.

The first test-project of its kind has begun in Tualatin, Oregon. Although, not a redemption center, as yet, the Tualatin Experimental Recycling Project - TERP has begun the first phase towards the establishment of a privately operated redemption center.

TERP has begun a Home Pick-up Service for the collection of Oregon 5c Deposit containers. People are tired of battling those slow redemption machines, and because of this many have throw them away in the trash. Oregon's 5c containers can be found everywhere, in the trash, and disposed of throughout our countryside. Wasn't the idea behind the Oregon Bottle Bill designed to stop all this?

TERP's home pick-up service is an alternative to the return-process. TERP pays 2 1/2 cents per container, paid in cash immediately. TERP splits the deposit with the consumer, with the remaining 2 1/2 cents going for expenses to operate the service. Most folks would rather know the containers are being recycled, they are realizing some of their money back, and know the remainder of the deposit is being used for a "green-effort."

TERP's concept of a Community Redemption Center is as follows:

1. Consumers are paid in cash all of their 5c Deposit (2 1/2 cents if picked up)

2. No limits on containers turned in

3. Profits from the corporation be used only in the community it serves, such as buying school supplies, supporting senior centers, and educational programs, and individual student needs

4. Any employee it hires be from within the community it serves

5. Create a "speaker's bureau" to educate people about recycling and green technologies

6. involve the community

The Oregon bottle Bill was a tremendous beginning and catalyst for the recycling effort. As we approach the fortieth anniversary (2011) of America's first deposit container law, it is time to rescue the Oregon Bottle Bill from the claws of the beverage industry, and make it work for Oregon's people, aimed at a greener future, we, and our future generations so rightfully deserve.

http://www.xomba.com/americas_first_bottle_can_deposit_law_nears_40